The National’s New Album to Feature St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Sufjan, and Everyone Else

'Trouble Will Find Me' is brimming with guest stars

The National’s new album Trouble Will Find Me will be jam-packed with guests, according to an interview with drummer Bryan Devendorf. In speaking to Gothamist, the Brookyln band’s skinsman let slip that Sufjan Stevens, St. Vincent’s Annie Clark, Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, Sharon Van Etten, Doveman’s Thomas Bartlett, and Dark Dark Dark singer Nona Marie Invie. Stevens and Parry also contributed to 2010’s masterful High Violet.

Regarding the record’s mood, Devendorf said, “It ranges from upbeat to introspective, and it’s kind of funny at times. The tone will sound super serious but what [Matt Berninger is] singing is actually funny.” Asked about the album’s title, he said, “For me it’s sort of fatalistic in a way, and maybe a bit paranoid. There’s a wryness to it as well, like ‘oh, well,’ but when you’re hearing the record, there’s some triumph and confidence that belies [that].”

Devendorf also mentions “synths … bass clarinet, regular clarinet … strings, violin, viola, cello [and] brass,” though used to create subtle “textural shifts.” He goes on to explain that Stevens does some drum machine work on at least three songs — “Demons,” “Pink Rabbits” and “I Need My Girl” — “but it’s not like Daft Punk or anything.” Good thing those helmeted dudes have got their own thing going on.